Live Recording of “My Man’s Got the Blues”
My Man’s Got the Blues is the cry of Job’s wife after they lost all their children as well as their livelihood.
Quizzes, Trick Questions, and Answers that Aren’t
I read some posts recently related to a quiz that was given (just for fun) on a songwriting board I visit occasionally ( www.christiansongwriters.org ). Most of the posts were in the vein of “my answer was counted wrong, but it’s correct because…” .
Having worked for quite a few years in technical training, I can tell you that writing questions that cannot be miscontrued is one of the hardest things you can do. If you’re successful at it, you are a very good test writer.How you define something makes all the difference in how a question will be interpreted. Most of the time, instead of “what’s the answer?”, it comes down to ‘what answer are they looking for?’. That’s why many times I found my students wanting to know the ‘answers’ instead of trying to understand the concepts. I used to tell my students ‘if you cannot explain it, you don’t understand it’. They didn’t like that. They just wanted to know what answer to write down so they could make a good grade on the test.
(To be fair, I have to admit that when they asked me “Why do we have to know this?”, my answer was “Because it’s on the test!”)
Seeking understanding instead of answers requires a greater commitment. Understanding goes beyond simply finding the answer… way beyond. When a person can explain to you how their answer is correct according to their interpretation of the question, it reveals a higher understanding of the subject matter and reveals the fact that their definition may differ from yours. This is the dilemma Job faced with his three friends, Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar. They were all learned men; wise men. They had all the answers, having gleaned them from their tradition, their training, and their experience. Job was cut in the same cloth they were. He believed the same things they believed, which is what caused his dilemma. Somehow, though, their ‘answers’ did not line up with what Job was experiencing. Job wanted to understand. Job needed new answers, but all they had to offer were the same old answers that no longer rang true.
It reminds me of how many times Jesus’ teaching consisted of “You have heard it said… but I tell you…”.
It also reminds me how many times I have heard that being ‘christian’ means believing certain facts about God and Jesus, as if belief in those facts is what makes the difference, rather than having a real, vital relationship with the God who calls us to seek HIM and know HIM… not facts about him.
The complexity of a relationship cannot be boiled down to a set of facts.
Notes on Job
From Walter Brueggamann’s “Introduction to the Old Testament”
· Undated – uses older genres and patterns of speech and fashions them into the most artistic and practical statement of faith in the O.T.
· Challenges the basic premises of Israel’s faith
· Refuses easy resolution
· Composed mostly of lament and hymn, which is pushes to an “emotional, artistic, and theological extremity”
· An immensely sophisticated and artistic work that is removed from any particular historical context or crisis
In “Reading the Bible Again for the First Time”, Marcus Borg says that if we read Job searching for an answer to why good people suffer, we are left unsatisfied and wanting; we get no good answer. But the real question, the primary question the story of Job seeks to answer is the one raised by Lucifer. In the story, God holds Job up for review; puts him on exhibit as his poster child of piety of righteousness. In response, Lucifer throws down the gauntlet and issues his challenge: “Does Job worship God for nothing?” Lucifer’s challenge is carefully crafted because it shifts the focus from Job’s righteousness to God’s worthiness. Notice that he did not accuse Job of anything. Even God said Job was “sinless and upright”. Rather, Lucifer’s accusation raises the question of whether God is worthy of worship simply by virtue of his being God or whether he is only worshipped because he gives blessings and benefits to his worshippers.
This point of view is startling because of the clarity it brings to the story.
1. It shifts the focus from man-centered to God-centered;
2. It makes God the central character rather than Job. The story becomes about God’s righteousness — not Job’s;
3. It shows that Lucifer was not accusing Job of anything, but rather was accusing God of not being worthy of worship. That is why God had to engage the challenge and prove Lucifer wrong.
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2-point takeaway
If there are any main “points” that I think you need to come away from a study of Job with, I think they would be…
1. No matter what you believe to be true ‘about’ God, you could be wrong; and,
2. God is. Deal with it.
The majority of the book of Job, in all of its excellence and poetry, is comprised of Job’s friends extolling the virtues of their particular brand of theology/philosophy/belief system. For the greater part of his life, Job believed pretty much as they did.
But then his experience challenged his belief.
It is precisely in this challenge that God is revealed as being NOT what was believed… but much more. It was not so much that they believed wrongly, but rather that their belief was too limited.
Job’s three friends, Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz, each represent a common and familiar line of reasoning. They each represent a trend in the philosophy of religion; and yet, at the end of their debates, God declares “you have not spoken rightly about me”.
Could it be that, whatever our belief about God, we are left somewhat lacking? Could it be that, regardless what you claim to be true about God… and regardless how close to the truth you may be… you still come up short of being able to express the totality of truth that is God?
I think that may be the essence of what Job has to teach us; that no matter what we think is true about God… we are wrong, because our capacity for thinking is too small. AND no matter how much we may think rightly about God, we are still far from the God who really is.
We cannot box him in with our finely tuned explanations and religious word bytes, because he is more than can be expressed.
We cannot reduce him to a finely crafted set of beliefs, which is what most of our modern religions try to do. God is beyond, and above, our abilities to believe… reason… express.
God is.
And it’s not our ability to express our belief about him that is important. What is important, as revealed in the story of Job, is our ability to trust in Him… regardless what may seem to be true.
“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.” Job 19:25.
Misunderstood is an Understatement
I think Job must be one of the most misunderstood books in the Bible. I’ve sat through several studies of it and undertaken several more on my own. I’ve been constantly amazed at the range of opinions and declarations about what it “teaches”. I suppose that’s true of much of the Bible, but Job seems to be one book that you can use to support whatever preconceived notions you’d like to assign to it.
A couple of examples:
- Suzanne and I were sitting in a restaurant in Savannah, waiting, as it were, for our daughter to show up. While waiting, we were working on Job. An elderly man kept glancing our way and, upon leaving, stopped by to see what we were doing. We explained that we were writing an opera based on the story of Job in the bible. With that brief explanation, he pronounced, “Job was punished because he was proud of having so much money!” ummm… excuse me? I don’t know how in the world he managed to come away with that summary after even a scant reading of the story, but he did. Or perhaps he got it from a pulpiteer who had an axe to grind?
- I was channel surfing in my living room one morning while putting my shoes on, when I happened to hear something about ”the book of Job” from one of the religious channels. So, naturally, I went back to hear what he had to say. According to THIS guy, “Job was a righteous man, but his children were evil sinners who partied all the time. THAT’s why God killed them.” Oh, Please. I suppose if you really want to, you can perform some creative deduction to come to that conclusion, especially if it supports your agenda. But if you want to be honest about it, you should really inform your listeners that you are speculating… engaging in creative conjecture.
I think there is much to learn from Job, but performing circus calesthenics with heuristic reasoning is not the way to do it. Maybe an open mind is too much to ask from some people?